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While the term “Internet of Things” (IoT) has found a place in today’s lexicon, when it was first used in the late nineties, the full implications of connected world solutions in the enterprise were still very much unknown. In 2012, Zebra Technologies commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct an initial study to understand the overall perception and prevalence of IoT solutions in global enterprises. The study provided valuable insight into organizational interest in and knowledge of IoT, and indicated continued growth and adoption of connected world solutions.

On November 18, Zebra released the 2014 study from Forrester Consulting examining the current state of IoT within the enterprise, taking responses from IT and business decision makers in nearly 600 global firms representing the retail, manufacturing, consumer products, transportation, healthcare, government, oil/gas and hospitality industries. This new study revealed just how much perceptions of IoT changed over the two-year period.

For example, in 2012 only 15 percent of those surveyed had an IoT solution already in place, but 53 percent indicated they planned to implement connected world solutions within the next 24 months. Those with plans to incorporate IoT into their organizations clearly held to their intentions, as 65 percent of respondents in the 2014 study have deployed or are in the process of implementing IoT solutions, indicating strong momentum toward the standardization of connected world solutions in the enterprise.

General knowledge and perception of IoT has evolved since 2012 as well. In the first study, only 64 percent of respondents were familiar with the term “Internet of Things.” Today, not only do respondents recognize the term, they overwhelmingly view IoT as a critical component to their businesses’ success, with more than 80 percent agreeing that IoT solutions will be the most strategic technology initiative for their organization in a decade.

The 2014 results reveal that IoT solutions are being deployed globally by organizations in many vertical markets and are becoming a standard component in many firms’ operations.

Stay tuned for more posts on the 2014 Forrester Study. Zebra will be posting a series focused on the study throughout the remainder of January and into February 2015. At the end of the series, we will host a #TalkIoT Twitter chat to discuss the future of IoT. Please post any questions below that you would like to see addressed in the series or during the #TalkIoT chat in February.